Any engineer or fireman who, when at a fire, is absent from an engine or a branch pipe, without orders from the superintendent or foreman, is liable to a fine.
If any of the men are sick, or absent from any other cause, their duties are performed by other men attached to their engine-station.
With a view to the men being always at hand, they are lodged as near as possible to their respective engine-houses.
The roll is called at each station every morning and evening.
No man leaves his own residence or the engine-station to which he belongs from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. except to go to a fire, or by an order from a superior, or with written leave from the superintendent, and the senior man on duty is answerable if he does not report any departure from this rule.
Men on duty not at the engine-stations are allowed one hour for breakfast and one for dinner, as follows:—One-half of the men on duty go to breakfast from 8 to 9, and the other half from 9 to 10; also one-half go to dinner from 1 to 2, and the other half from 2 to 3. The second half in no case leave until the whole of the first half have returned, neither do the men on duty leave morning or evening until the relief has arrived. The engineer or senior man on duty is answerable for this regulation being carried into effect. And any man being absent from the premises he is watching or working in, except at the regular hours, is punished.
The men for duty individually assemble at the principal engine-house in the district before, or precisely at, the hour fixed for that purpose. Their names are called, and an inspection made by the foreman of the district, to ascertain that they are sober and correctly dressed and appointed. The foreman then reads and explains the orders of the day. At the hour for relieving the men, no one leaves his engine-house until the relief has actually arrived there; when the men are relieved, their names are called over, and they are inspected by the engineer, that he may ascertain whether they are sober, and as correctly dressed and appointed as when they went on duty. The engineer enters these inspections in a book.
The engineers deliver a written report, according to a printed form, twice each day, to the foreman of the district, who in his turn reports twice a day to the superintendent.
The whole of the men are, at all times, ready to appear at any place required, for exercise or any other purpose, and are ready (whether on duty or not) to execute whatever orders they may receive, in relation to the Establishment, from the engineers, foremen, or superintendent.